Monterey Bay Aquarium: PART 1- Pictures of a Life Aquatic

Last weekend we took the two hour journey south to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, CA. It was well worth the trip. There is no Jaguar Shark exhibit, however, I imagine that even the great Steve Zissou would admit that the Monterey Bay Aquarium is a great way to view aquatic wildlife. The aquarium building is not massive, but maximizes its space with numerous types of oceanic life forms. The highlight for me was the jellyfish exhibit (as will be evidenced by the large number of images of them to follow). Everything was great and well worth the time and money. We were at the aquarium for a little over 3 hours which honestly felt more like 30 minutes. In fact, I think there were a few exhibits that I did not even see. There are also numerous interactive displays and a cafe on property.

If you are interested in taking pictures I would offer these few tips:

1. Go early because it gets very busy. We went on a Saturday in the summer which I assume is probably one of the busiest days. If possible, a weekday visit would afford better photographic opportunities.
2. Turn up the ISO. In my opinion, a little noise is well worth the faster shutter speed.
3. Bring a fast lens. I think a zoom with a very low fixed aperture would be ideal.
4. Don't use flash. I am sure that there are people much more knowledgeable than me that can use off camera flash in an aquarium. However, if you are not one of those people, don't use your flash.
5. Shoot a lot of images. It is a bit chaotic and you might not have much time to set up each shot, so the best solution seems to be to dial in the settings correctly and then shoot away!

In conclusion, the Monterey Bay Aquarium is one of the best and you should visit if you get the chance. Below are a sampling of images from my visit, not including the jellyfish. The jellyfish commanded most of my lens time and I will follow this with a separate post dedicated to nothing but jellyfish. Thank you for stopping by and take care!

I found it impossible to get a good focus on any of the seahorses. It might have something to do with the curvature of the glass or it might be that seahorses are just jerks and refuse to pose for a good picture.

Rachel with an aquatic admirer.

This is my favorite fish in the whole aquarium. I love how his habitat looks so surreal and his face looks so familiar and grumpy.

I added this as a reminder of what a truly horrific place the ocean can be. As evidenced by this fish with a missing eyeball.  Mitch Hedberg was right "if fish could scream the ocean would be loud as shit!".